On the east route of South-to-North Water Transfer Project, the Yangtze River flows out of Yangzhou all the way north, and runs north Jiangsu and Jidong. This year, the annual water transfer work was started. Over the past four years, more than 10 billion cubic meters of "South-to-North Water Transfer Project" has become the guarantee water for life, the life-saving water for drought resistance and the ecological water for rivers and lakes. Who would have thought that it was not easy behind the gurgling clean stream.
The success or failure of water transfer on the eastern route lies in pollution control. Fifteen years ago, this was the goal that had been questioned: to make all the "soy sauce rivers" clear, to turn the inferior V water into III water, and to reduce the concentration of COD (chemical oxygen demand) to 20 mg/L. It has taken some developed countries decades and hundreds of years to control similar water problems. Can the South-to-North Water Transfer Project be realized in 10 years?
The eastern route has become an example of river basin management: from 2003 to 2013, the average concentration of COD decreased by more than 85%, the average concentration of ammonia nitrogen decreased by 92%, and the water quality compliance rate increased from 3% to 100%. The water is clear and the shore is green, which will promote the economic development and ecological protection along the route to a win-win situation.
Pollution control depends on determination: shut down with an iron fist and never let sewage enter the trunk line.
How difficult is it to control pollution on the eastern front? Nansi Lake, where water transfer must pass, is quite representative.
"It receives water from 32 counties in four provinces of Sulu, Henan and Anhui, and there are 53 main rivers entering the lake. The water systems intersect, and which river is not well managed will affect the water quality of the lake area." Ge Weiyan, inspector of the Environmental Protection Department of Shandong Province, said that in the 1990s, all the water in the basin was polluted, and the river water entering the lake was basically inferior to Class V, and Nansi Lake became a "dead lake" where fish and shrimp were extinct.
Such a water problem is precisely the development problem that is concentrated and highlighted at this stage. Along the eastern route, after years of rapid industrialization and urbanization, the water ecology is red and the water environment is difficult to carry. Some people worry that the South-to-North Water Transfer Project will become a sewage transfer project.
"The key to pollution control depends on determination, and there must be the spirit of a strong man breaking his wrist. The CPC Central Committee and the State Council attached great importance to this and clearly put forward the principle of "three firsts and three afters" in the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, that is, saving water first, transferring water first, polluting water first, using water first, and never letting sewage go north. " The main responsible comrades of the State Council South-to-North Water Diversion Office said.
Top design. The pollution control planning and supplementary planning of the Eastern Route Project have been implemented one after another. Through structural adjustment, sewage treatment, sewage interception and diversion, ecological restoration and other projects, an integrated pollution control system has been established to ensure the sustainable delivery of clean water from one canal to the north.
"Ensuring Class III water quality" has become a hard lever for local governments. Jiangsu, Shandong along the iron fist choking pollution, launched a tough battle against pollution.
"A traditional paper mill can stain a river." Liu Yunting, deputy director of the Environmental Protection Bureau of Jining City, Shandong Province, said that more than 10 years ago, there were more than 700 paper mills in the province, and the sewage discharge accounted for more than 70% of the total. Say "no" to highly polluting paper-making enterprises, Shandong has formulated the first drainage standard in the country, in which COD discharge standard is 6 times stricter than the national standard, and ammonia nitrogen discharge is 7 times stricter than the national standard, and the "privilege" of industrial sewage discharge is cancelled, which forces industrial transformation.
The paper industry is just a microcosm. In Jining, 68 enterprises are listed as key governance targets. Nine cities along Shandong Province refused to approve and delayed the approval of more than 510 enterprises with high energy consumption and high pollution, involving an investment of nearly 19 billion yuan. All the 378 sewage outlets supervised by the provincial government have been rectified.
In Jiangsu, we have vigorously implemented clean-up and diversion, water conservation and emission reduction, and a number of deepening pollution control projects have landed. Environmental accountability and one-vote veto were implemented, and more than 800 chemical enterprises were shut down along the route. Control non-point source pollution, and set up prohibited areas, restricted areas and concentrated areas for aquaculture. Li Songbai, assistant general manager of East Jiangsu Water Source Company, said: "The water quality is up to standard, which is the bottom line that must be kept."
Interception of sewage with one hand and finding a "way out" for sewage with the other. At least one sewage treatment plant and one garbage treatment plant will be built in each county along the water transfer. Since the Twelfth Five-Year Plan, 107 new sewage treatment plants have been built along Shandong, with an annual treatment capacity of 1.55 billion tons.
Pollution control on the eastern route continued to advance, the total amount of sewage discharged dropped sharply, and rivers were reborn. The black and smelly Nansi Lake "came back to life" and returned to the level of the early 1980s, ranking among the national lakes with excellent water quality. Cui Xiubao, a villager in henan village, Jiangji, who lives near Weishan Lake, said: "Now the river has come back when I was a child, and the small whitebait and saury that have been extinct for many years have appeared again."
Mechanism of pollution control: pressure is transmitted layer by layer, and scientific pollution control is effective.
Pollution control on the eastern front is not an expedient measure. A long-term mechanism is needed to ensure the stability of water quality.
Who will control pollution? In 2003, the State Council South-to-North Water Diversion Office signed a letter of responsibility with Sulu provinces, and 14 cities along the route signed a written pledge with the governments of the two provinces to clarify the main body of responsibility, and the pressure was passed on layer by layer.
Along the water transfer line, the "river length system" and "section length system" were first implemented. The river chief is on duty, guarding the water and doing his duty. Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province changed the supervision of enterprises to the supervision of the government, realizing "the responsibility of the party and the government is the same, one post and two responsibilities, and dereliction of duty". Xu Dong, the mayor of Zhangji Town, tongshan district, said frankly: "There is pressure and motivation, and’ Kowloon’ can be twisted into a rope to protect the mother river." In Shandong, pollution control targets are directly linked to the assessment of cadres, and provincial leaders are the river chiefs of key lakes and reservoirs such as Nansi Lake and Dongping Lake, which are promoted from a high position.
How to control pollution? Innovative ecological governance model. Shandong put forward the strategy of "governance and protection" to tap the potential in all aspects. "Governance" means the whole process of pollution prevention and control, such as structural adjustment, clean production and terminal treatment. "Use" means the recycling of reclaimed water. The annual consumption of reclaimed water conservancy in the province reaches 800 million tons, which is equivalent to the water volume of eight large reservoirs. "Protection" means ecological protection and restoration, and building a large ecological belt along the river and lake.
Through returning farmland to wet land and returning fishing to the lake, Nansi Lake has reached 230,000 mu of constructed wetland with a daily water purification capacity of 500,000 tons. Hui Luo, deputy director of the South-to-North Water Diversion Construction and Management Bureau, said that the wetland is like a natural sewage treatment plant. After the tail water discharged by enterprises reaches the standard, it will be purified by the wetland, and the pollutant content will be reduced by half, so that the water quality entering the lake will meet the Class III requirements.
Hongze Lake, 750,000 mu of wetland in full of green, where rare birds dance. Li Songbai said: "Fishermen take a step forward, wetlands take a step back, and over-breeding once endangered the ecology. After years of returning to the lake and ecological restoration, it was in exchange for today’s harmonious situation between people and water. "
Explore the ecological compensation mechanism. Since 2010, Jiangsu Province has implemented regional compensation along the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, with "polluter pays, and the infringer compensates". The compensation funds are earmarked for water pollution control, ecological restoration and water environment monitoring capacity building. With the efforts of the government market, Shandong has explored charging for water conservation and sewage discharge by electricity, introduced third-party governance, and obtained the greatest benefits through government purchase of services.
With the guarantee of mechanism, pollution control on the eastern route has shifted from engineering management to comprehensive management, bringing greater benefits into play. In 2013, the bottom of Nansi Lake was cracked, and it was on the verge of crisis. At the critical moment, the East Line pumping station was running at full capacity, and the Yangtze River water flew 800 miles, bringing the long-term drought lake back to life. In response to the drought in northern Jiangsu in 2009, 5.3 billion cubic meters of water was transferred from Jiangdu to the arid area, and the water volume exceeded that of Hongze Lake, and more than 45 million mu of farmland was irrigated.
Concept of pollution control: active transformation, green development into people’s hearts
Eastern pollution control, will it affect development?
Practice has proved that protecting the ecological environment is also protecting productive forces. Adhering to the concept of green development and building a strong green engine can achieve a win-win situation for economic development and ecological improvement.
Set the city by water and accelerate the transformation. In the past five years, Xuzhou, an old industrial base, has carried out environmental credit evaluation for more than 1,800 enterprises, and the industrial structure has changed from heavy to light, and the level has changed from low to high, thus winning the golden business card of "one city with green hills and half a city with lakes". Jining, a coal city, takes the road of new industrialization. The advanced manufacturing industry exceeds the coal-fired power industry, and the high-tech industry accounts for more than 33% of the industry.
There is no "card" dead enterprise at the high threshold. After experiencing pains, Shandong paper industry achieved a green turn, the number of enterprises decreased by 65%, but the production capacity was 3.5 times that of the original, which was at the leading level in China. Quanlin Paper Company not only won more than 180 domestic and international patents, but also turned straw pulp papermaking into a high-tech industry, and built a branch factory in the United States by relying on advanced emission reduction technology.
A strong man breaks his wrist, freeing up environmental capacity in exchange for development space. All localities along the route seized opportunities and took the lead in transformation, and a number of emerging industries such as electronic information, new energy and new materials rose rapidly. According to preliminary statistics, the average annual growth rate of economic growth along the line is 14.02%, and the average annual industrial added value is 20.55%, which is higher than the provincial average.
Relying on mountains to eat, relying on water to eat. The water quality has improved, and Cui Xiubao by Weishan Lake has eaten ecological rice. "Now there are all kinds of fish, and you can earn one or two hundred yuan every day by opening a fisherman’s house." He said that the villagers in the surrounding villages engaged in ecological breeding and eco-tourism, with an annual per capita income of more than 20,000 yuan.
"The South-to-North Water Transfer Project not only transferred water, but also revitalized regional water resources." Hui Luo said that the Yangtze River water, the Yellow River water and the local water merged together to form a "T"-shaped water network in Qilu, which realized the optimal allocation of water resources, made up the original long-term ecological debt, returned the occupied agricultural water, and gradually restored the regional water ecology. In Jiping main canal, the Xiaoqing River with cross-flow of sewage reappeared through water resources dispatching. Residents along the Jinan River lamented: "Xiaohe River has finally changed back to Xiaoqing River!"
The East Route of South-to-North Water Transfer Project has not only become a water conveyance line to optimize the allocation of water resources, but also a development line to practice ecological civilization. (Reporter Zhao Yongping)
